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Sunday, December 30, 2012

A quick and tasty Black-Eyed Pea Soup for good luck on New Year's Day, and it's Phase One!

I need to give Meatless Monday fans a raincheck this week so I can share this Lucky Black-Eyed Pea Soup with Chicken Garlic Soup and Bell Peppers before New Year's Day. I've been cooking black-eyed peas on New Year's Day for several years now, usually my favorite Hopping John Soup or Black-Eyed Pea Hummus, and I can promise you, it has definitely brought me good luck. And if you use portion control, this new lucky soup is even good for Phase One (which I'm guessing some of you may have on your mind!) If you're cooking black-eyed peas for New Year's Day, let us know in the comments how you're fixing them this year.

I'm a fan of these frozen black-eyed peas, which do need to be cooked but cook more quickly than dried black-eyed peas. If you can't find these, you can use the dried ones but you need to allow much longer more cooking time.

I used the Sabatino's Chicken Sausage with Mozzarella, Artichokes and Garlic that I loved with Roasted Sweet Potatoes, but if you can't find those use any low-fat chicken or turkey sausage with garlic. Slice the sausage and saute in a little olive oil until they're well-browned.

While the sausage cooks, chop the onion and mince the garlic. Remove the sausage when it's browned, heat a little more olive oil and saute onions for a few minutes. Then add the garlic, thyme, and oregano and cook 1-2 minutes more.

Add the frozen (or dried) black-eyed peas, water, and chicken stock and simmer 30 minutes or until the peas are starting to soften. (Dried peas may need as much as 1-2 hours to start to soften. They will cook a little more quickly if they're soaked overnight.)

While the peas are simmering, remove seeds and finely chop the red and green bell pepper.

Add the diced peppers and sausage to the soup pot and cook about 45 minutes more (or longer if the peas are not fully softened.)

When the soup is done, season to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper, stir in the sherry vinegar, and serve hot, with olive oil and sherry vinegar to drizzle on each bowl if desired.

Heat 2 tsp. olive in oil in a large soup pot and saute the sausage over medium-high heat until it's nicely browned on all side, about 6-8 minutes. Don't rush the browning step. Remove sausage to a bowl and set aside.

While the sausage browns, chop the onion and mince the garlic. After you remove the sausage, turn heat to medium and add 2 tsp. more olive oil. When the oil is hot add the onions and saute until partially softened, about 3-4 minutes. Then add the minced garlic, dried thyme, and dried oregano and saute a minute or two more.

Add the frozen black-eyed peas, chicken stock, and 1 cup water and bring to a low boil. Turn heat to low and simmer about 30 minutes, or until the peas are starting to soften. (If you're using dried black-eyed peas they will need longer cooking time to start softening, as much as 1-2 hours.) When the peas are partly soft, add the diced red and green bell peppers and sausage and simmer about 45 minutes more, or until the peas are done to your liking. If the soup seems too thick, add a little more water as it cooks.

Season the soup with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste and stir in the 2 T sherry vinegar. Serve soup hot, with additional olive oil and sherry vinegar to drizzle on at serving time if desired.

South Beach Suggestions:
Not only is this soup guaranteed to bring you luck, but it's also approved for any phase of the South Beach Diet. However, remember that dried beans are limited to 1/3 - 1/2 cup for Phase One. (In a soup like this with other low-glycemic ingredients like low-fat chicken sausage and bell peppers, I would eat a small bowl of this as a serving for Phase One.)

Nutritional Information?

I chose the South Beach Diet to manage my weight partly so I wouldn't have to count calories, carbs, points, or fat grams, but if you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into Calorie Count, which will calculate it for you.

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Posts may include links to my affiliate account at Amazon.com, and this blog earns a few cents on the dollar if readers purchase the items I recommend, so thanks for supporting my blog when you shop at Amazon!

Can you believe that I had no idea black-eyed peas were good luck until a friend brought over her dip recipe and shared this bit of news with me. Now that I know I have to make your soup. Have a wonderful New Year!

Made it tonight, very tasty! Store was sold out of black eyed peas, so substituted frozen field peas. Probably could have used the entire 2 lb bag since it was a little thin. Also substituted rice vinegar for sherry vinegar and it was delicious. Thanks, Kalyn!

I cooked your Hopping John black eyed peas soup today, Kalyn..delcious! Great instructions...especially not to over process it...(gulp)almost did that. I bought the beans on New Years Eve and left them at the store. I want that Good Luck, so I retrieved them the next day, Jan 1st, cooked a few to eat for luck...then cooked the entire soup recipe today...I left out the red pepper flakes..I substituted with ground pepper. It is like my mother used to make...comfort good soup.

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